# Removing artifical nails with dental floss!



## dentaldee

My daughter had acrylic nails that she wanted removed and after zero success with soaking in acetone I searched the internet for a solution. I read somewhere to use dental floss. We tried it and OMG!!!!!!!!! it took less than 5mins to remove all 10 nails!!!!! This was the method we used.......

-it takes a second person to do this for you, it can't be done alone

-use a metal nail file to work up the edge a bit all along the whole width of the acrylic at the cuticle end of the nail

-use about 12 inches of floss wrap it around the second finger of each hand and then slip the floss under the edge that you just created

-now use a sawing motion and pull toward the tip of the finger and presto!!! the nail pops off

and no pain!!!

just becareful beacuse it is very strong.......on one nail we didn't get a free edge across the whole nail and the floss acutally sliced right through the acrylic nail. we just stopped and got more free edge the for the floss to slide under.

I used the teflon type of floss, you know the easyslide or glide floss.

serious, I was amazed at how easy and fast this was!!!


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## Aquilah

Now, why didn't I look into that ages ago when I wore acrylics! Thanks for the tip Dee!


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## -Liz-

thanks for the tip, and just on time too! i want to take mine off but hate sitting through the acetone


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## dentaldee

hey Liz be sure to let me know how it works out for you


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## Marisol

Great tip!


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## Colorlicious

huh who would of known!


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## NYCSusie

Awesome I am going to try it this weekend cause mine have to come off thanks a ton for the tip.


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## AngelaGM

That sounds like an awesome idea!


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## Jennifer

thanks!!!


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## S. Lisa Smith

Wow, acetone didn't work? I thought that stuff ate all plastics.


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## MACmaniac

Great tip...for tips! LOL ( corny but funny to me! )


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## katana

Thank you sooo much for this tip! I will try it out for sure!

Acetone dries my fingers out so bad!


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## rita1979

ARE YOU SURE it's not painful?


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## KristinB

That is a great tip. Is the nail really thin and weak now?


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## dentaldee

Originally Posted by *rita1979* /img/forum/go_quote.gif ARE YOU SURE it's not painful? Justine said it only hurt a tiny bit and she does not have a high pain tolerance!! It doesn't hurt b/c you are basically breaking the seal between the glue and your nail.......when you pry them off you are actually pulling on your nail bed and that's what causes the pain.

Originally Posted by *KristinB* /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is a great tip. Is the nail really thin and weak now? they are but not as bad as prying them off b/c as I stated above, you are breaking the seal so I guess in turn you are leaving some layers of nail on your nail!

BTW.....if you attempt to use acetone and then this floss method you may not have any luck.....once the acrylic nail is soft and rubbery this technique will not work.


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## Ricci

Great Tip! but I suggest she use Gel for nails


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## xxahsinxx

nice tip, gonna try that next time!


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## rita1979

hello

I wanted to say that I have test your way .I have find hard to make a space between the cuticule and acrylic nails I don't know how you do to remove when you use a metal nail file to work up the edge a bit all along the whole of the acrylic .


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## duke.bailey

Great idea! I currently have acrylics that I clipped the ends off because i couldn't stand them, and I was just going to file or buffer off the rest but this sounds like a much better idea!!! XxX


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## Bec688

Just be careful when you do this you aren't pulling off the natural nail as well. It's stuck to the acrylic, I guarentee you'll do damage.

For removing acrylics, buff them down before soaking them in acetone, they will come off a LOT quicker than just plonking them straight into the acetone. As soon as you remove them put on some cuticle oil. Those nails are going to need some TLC.


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## chocobon

Great tip! Thnx!


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## tiffberry

thanks for the tip. i've tried alot of ways to get off my acrylics. just one more method to test out.


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## Jamie L. Squire

Thanks, what a great idea.


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## Kerrie s

Great tips, nice to avoid the acetone process. And thanks for the cautionary notes.


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## Kookie-for-COCO

Who would have thought?


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## rita1979

HELLO,

Thank you sooo much for this tip!

I tried 3 times to remove my acrylic nails, and finally it was a success,I removed them in ten minutes.the next time ,I will try on my customers!


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## love2482

A much needed tip! I always have trouble removing my acrylic nails.


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## 4getmeNot

wow that's neat. i'll definately try this out next time. sounds so hassle free.


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## rita1979

Pleaaaaaase I want a quick answer

I agree with you that it is the easy way to remove acrylic nails.

my question is :_do you practice this way to your __customers_? 

Some peoples think that it 's a barbarian technic( I don't know why)!!!!

THANKS


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## dentaldee

barbarian......probabally the least barbarian way to remove acrylics


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## SamBam

Wow awsome idea! Thanks!


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## niksaki

Originally Posted by *Bec688* /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just be careful when you do this you aren't pulling off the natural nail as well. It's stuck to the acrylic, I guarentee you'll do damage.
For removing acrylics, buff them down before soaking them in acetone, they will come off a LOT quicker than just plonking them straight into the acetone. As soon as you remove them put on some cuticle oil. Those nails are going to need some TLC.

Everything that bec has said already! OUCH i cannot believe what some people do to get them off....




when i spend so long putting them on people and hoping to god that they stay on! just a warning it can do a lot of damage to your natural nail please be careful.


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## xtiffanyx

You can use the floss method of removing without someone else's help if you use those little flossers you can get in bags of 50(I can't explain what they look like). I do this after I take a really warm shower because the steam seems to make the nails softer and easier to remove.

These things





TePe Mini Flosser


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## chic_chica

Thats sounds cool

Another method is soaking acetone in a cotton ball.....and use pieces of foil paper to hold the cotton ball to your nail. Leave this for about 10 - 15 mins and the nail just comes of easily. I dont do acrylics...just once on one fingernail cuz my nail broke...and the nail lady told me that trick. It did work for me on that one nail.


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## NicoleNoble

this is an awesome tip and as for needing a second person...not so much if you use the pre-threaded flossers as they hold bothends of the floss for you


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## Connie Brashear

Thank you so much I never thought of that, mine had to come off I was having a bad reaction to the nails or glue not sure but bad then I came across your wonderful tip i had them off in 20 min or so by my self, lol it can be done use the floss that has the handles with the lil pic on the end the single flosses lol it worked wonders again thank you so very much you saved me a hospital bill


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## NaeS

I removed my acrylic nails this morning using flossers ...Awsome! It took about 1o-15 minutes


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## chic_chica

Sounds interesting..

Has anyone ever tried this:

1. Soaking a piece of cotton in acetone

2. Place it on your nail

3. Take a piece of foil paper and wrap it around your fingernail to secure the soaked cotton

4. Let your nail soak for a while (not sure how long though)

After this the acrylic nail should be easier to remove. 

I've never tried it, but I've heard an nail tech talk about this.


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## CalliMac

> Originally Posted by *S. Lisa Smith* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> Wow, acetone didn't work? I thought that stuff ate all plastics.



Once I spilled some acetone on my desk and it literally stripped the varnish and clear coat right off! Whoops!


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## jazzmullen

wow...what a key tip! I had acrylics on twice and gel the other time. Each time, I just waited to grow them out and kind of pull them out naturally. Very bad for the nails - I can definitely say that!

Not sure if I'll get acrylic nails to try this but nice tip


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## SarahNerd

Even with acetone it was always a long painful process where I lost a lot of my natural nails.  The awful process is part of why I stopped getting my nails done.  This sounds awesome and if I ever get fakers again I'm totally trying it.


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## sheanabeanz

what if you don't have a metal nail file? And how long should you file until you use the floss?


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## msleesh

So in my google search on ways to remove acrylic nails, I came across this forum. And after joining the website, I must say I LOVE IT! Thank you for sharing this tip! I used it and it worked really well. It is painless but does still tear the natural nail just a bit. Nothing as dramatic as trying to pry them off yourself!


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## deee001

i didn't believe it at first ..



BUT it actually worked !!



 thank you !!! &lt;3


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## Cherlynn

Wow THIS REALLY REALLY WORKS, thanks for the brilliant tip!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## jammiiee11

OMG THIS WAS SOOO EASY!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!


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## Patricia Tolman

thank you SO MUCH for the tip!! i always dred removing acrylic nails and i came upon this today. it worked great!! one little tip i found though. if you are doing it yourself, use the little floss pic thingys that look kinda like little forks. worked perfectly! thanks again!!


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## Patricia Tolman

i have with gels. thats pretty much the standard they use now for removal of shellacs or gels. works pretty good and fast,, but with acrylics,, the floss is the bomb. if you do use this method for acrylics,, make sure you trim free edge of acrylic and file down the surface so the acetone soaks in more quickly. i am a licenced naik tech.


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## Megan Gillispie

i wanted to thamk you from the bottom of my heart tried the technique  you said and they came off so easily. which shocked me cause the nail techs had my nails so thick and bonded i was worried nothing would help cause i had tried the 100% acetone solution and it didnt help at all. Thank you again


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## Tyari

Who'da thunk it? Great tip!


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## MrsChaconhis1

I'll have to share that with my nail guy.


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## Laura Cantrell

Hey everyone, I found this when trying to search for a different way to remove my acrylic nails without the time and smell of acetone. The whole idea of using just dental floss and essentially "sawing" off the fake nail was weird, but certainly worth a shot if it did work. 

I'll start by saying I had white tips glued on under the acrylic. For just the acrylic part the dental floss worked AMAZINGLY! Came right off with no problems. However, for the glued tips... the dental floss didn't work as well. I had only had problems with 2 nails, the tips, that is. Make sure you have the person holding and using the floss go slow otherwise it can pull off some of the natural nail bed (does not feel nice at all). The other nail I had a problem with I had the person with the floss stop when the floss wouldn't go further easily; I had to soak that in acetone... but the fact that I only had to soak one nail for a couple minutes, instead of all 10 nails for like 20 minutes... and with that smell... so much better. And the floss actually goes really fast... if I had just acrylic without tips, I can only imagine how much faster (with no pain and no acetone) it would have been. 

Awesome tip! One I will keep in mind for the next time I want fake nails... in which case I will use only acrylic, so I can remove them all this easily and quickly. 

Thanks!


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## diana16

I like getting acrylics but I hate taking them off  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I probably wont get them done again cause after so long i have got them to be strong and healthy


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## serena

Thanks a lot! I'll have a try ...


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## NicoleTiffany

this is an amazing tip- i love wearing acrylics, and acetone never works for me! i'll be sure to try this next time i want to take of my fakes ^^


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## RHETTSWOMAN

Thanks so much!!!!!!   Worked like a charm,and I was able to do this by myself.  Saved me $30 nail removal fee. Keep up the good work.


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## Alyssa C

I'm sorry to break the news to all of you but this is a TERRIBLE way to remove acrylic nails! You should NEVER use anything to pull them Off! It is so damaging to the nail! If you want to remove them go straight to the nail salon. If you can't wait, you can use their method at home! Soak cotton balls in pure acetone. Place them directly on the nails and avoid your skin by ripping the cotton balls. Wrap the Fingertips in foil and leave on at least 15 minutes. You can even use a hair dryer on LOW HEAT to expedite the process. After 15 minutes the whole nail doesn't slip right off, re-wrap and leave on an additional 10-15 minutes. NEVER EVER EVER PULL THE NAILS!!


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## OiiO

I use this method to remove Shellac  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />



> Originally Posted by *Alyssa C* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> I'm sorry to break the news to all of you but this is a TERRIBLE way to remove acrylic nails! You should NEVER use anything to pull them
> Off! It is so damaging to the nail! If you want to remove them go straight to the nail salon. If you can't wait, you can use their method at home! Soak cotton balls in pure acetone. Place them directly on the nails and avoid your skin by ripping the cotton balls. Wrap the
> Fingertips in foil and leave on at least 15 minutes. You can even use a hair dryer on LOW HEAT to expedite the process. After 15 minutes the whole nail doesn't slip right off, re-wrap and leave on an additional 10-15 minutes. NEVER EVER EVER PULL THE NAILS!!


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## SalJ

Quote:

Originally Posted by *Alyssa C* /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I'm sorry to break the news to all of you but this is a TERRIBLE way to remove acrylic nails! You should NEVER use anything to pull them
Off! It is so damaging to the nail! If you want to remove them go straight to the nail salon. If you can't wait, you can use their method at home! Soak cotton balls in pure acetone. Place them directly on the nails and avoid your skin by ripping the cotton balls. Wrap the
Fingertips in foil and leave on at least 15 minutes. You can even use a hair dryer on LOW HEAT to expedite the process. After 15 minutes the whole nail doesn't slip right off, re-wrap and leave on an additional 10-15 minutes. NEVER EVER EVER PULL THE NAILS!!
THANK YOU! 

This is a terrible idea and you have no idea what damage you could be causing to your nails.  You should be going to a trained professional to have acrylics removed or at a pinch use the above method.  DIY/bad nail techs are what ruins nails, not acrylics them self, as long as they are quality products and done / removed correctly.

And for the poster who asked about doing this on clients - please never never do this on your clients! If I whipped out the dental floss to remove a client's gel polish, I'm fairly certain I'd never see them again!


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## csutton001

Thank you for this very clever hint; you have spared me much discomfort and time! Clever lady :0)


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## csutton001

By the way, ladies, I just tried this after reading the suggestion. It worked, painlessly. I did not have a metal nail file, but was able to coax up the nail edges using the tip of metal tweezers. Thank you, Makeup Talk.


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## stuartj

Thanx for the tip, If only I knew yesterday as I had to hide them at work today lol


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## dubaicos

ohh nice ... I will try


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## Mary Rodriguez

Just wanted to reply to the I found the greatest easiest way to remove acrylic nails"... Omg!! It so worked!! and I just wanted to say Thank You for the Tip!!!...  /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />)


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## 123abc

Wow!! It really works. Removed two nails in less than a minute.


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## sbaker1208

I live in Oregon and I get Solar nails and they take them off by using a fake nail tip to left up on the nail. They do cut the nail down before and than they buff my nail after they got it off. I have gone to two different salons and they both have done it this way.


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## JILLYPILLY

I am thinking of taking my acrylic nails off but in the past I have found that the nail underneath is very thin and soft.

So I am going to try getting my nails cut shorter by the nail salon and then letting the nail grow out so that what is left when the acrylic eventually falls off the nail will be stronger.

Has anyone else tried this before?

It seems like common sense to me, the nails might look a bit yucky for a week or so but it is better than having really soft nails.

I have always been a nail biter which is the reason I have the acrylics.


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## KeepOnSingin

> Originally Posted by *RHETTSWOMAN* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> Thanks so much!!!!!!   Worked like a charm,and I was able to do this by myself.  Saved me $30 nail removal fee. Keep up the good work.


 $30?? WOW! I've never paid more than $15!!



> Originally Posted by *sbaker1208* /img/forum/go_quote.gif
> 
> I live in Oregon and I get Solar nails and they take them off by using a fake nail tip to left up on the nail. They do cut the nail down before and than they buff my nail after they got it off. I have gone to two different salons and they both have done it this way.


 This is how I get my nails removed -- both acrylic and gel. It's the fastest and easiest way. In a span of about 25 minutes, I had my UV gel set removed, my nails trimmed, filed, shaped, buffed and polished, and my eyebrows waxed. And for all of those services, I only paid $19!

I have had the usual soak off before, but it takes so long, and my nails have been just as healthy as ever when I get them popped off with a fake tip. Actually, it's funny, because the better salons take off fakes with the tips, and the not so good ones soak/file them off. (Around here, not saying anything about other places).


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## Taylor Lynne

Lies.


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## Laura Marie

Too funny ! My bf always helps me take mine off and the other night he was like let's try floss ! It does work! It kinda hurts when he's doing that sawing motion.. It starts getting sensitive. It also helps to dip the floss in the acetone. Loosens up the glue


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## BUNNYYYY

> Too funny ! My bf always helps me take mine off and the other night he was like let's try floss ! It does work! It kinda hurts when he's doing that sawing motion.. It starts getting sensitive. It also helps to dip the floss in the acetone. Loosens up the glue


 Hi can you go to my thing it's called HELP my nails are a horrible shape and give me some advice?


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## Tara04

hello. well i just wanted to say thank you and i will try it.. i was told the same thing from the nail salon.. and i had forgotten until i saw your information.. so thank you..


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## rina12

yes this method is really helpful and i found some methods to remove acrylic nails which are very helpful for me. May be you also find them helpful.

http://howhut.com/remove-acrylic-nails/


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## MRSDALLAS

PLEASE NOTE...

USING DENTAL FLOSS IS A VERY BAD IDEA. YES I TRIED IT LAST NIGHT TAKING YOUR ADVICE.

NOT ONLY DID IT TAKE MY ACRYLIC NAIL OFF BUT IT TOOK SEVERAL LAYERS OF MY NAIL OFF.

SO THIS METHOD IS VERY BAD ADVICE. LEAVING MY NAIL VERY SORE.

NOT RECOMMENDED X


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## SalJ

I'm scared for all of you saying that salons have done this to you! Please don't ever EVER go back to someone who removes your acrylics or gels by prizing them off with a nail tip or a nail file or god forbid, uses dental floss.

This is soo so so soooo terrible for your nails, I cannot stress that enough. It's no wonder you're getting all these services so cheap.


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## SalJ

I should've added to clarify that that is not the correct way that a salon should remove acrylics or gel.

Acrylics and soft gels should be removed by soaking the fingers in acetone (a pad soaked in acetone and wrapped in foil or a finger bowl with acetone in) until they are soft and can be gently removed. No scraping or hacking at the nail. No buffing off.  Some hard gels need to be buffed down to be removed though.

No nail enhancement should ever be prized off. Ever.


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